A Breath of Fresh Air
by Snoopy-4-President
Summary: After the heists the team gets off the hook but things just aren't the same, Vince especially, and aren't going well. When the team desides to leave LA for a while, they meet some new people who might just make all the difference....
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: i don't own anything...too bad, huh?**

**HEY HEY! well...here's a new fic that i sort of had an idea for. It's still a work in progress so i'd really appreciate any advice or ideas that you have.** **So yea, R and R, please! i love getting comments**

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CHANGE

Vince laid on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. There was nothing in particular there to look at, but he didn't really care because he wasn't really seeing it. He wasn't seeing it just like he hadn't really seen the hospital ceiling when he stared up at it from his hospital bed.

He could hear muffled sounds upstairs, just like he always could at this time of morning. Mia was probably bustling around making breakfast while Dom, Letty, and Leon sat at the table, maybe drinking coffee. No Jesse though...not anymore; not ever again. He was never going to walk upstairs and see Jesse sitting half asleep at the table. Not since Jesse was ripped from their lives three months ago. Now it was just Vince and Leon living in the basement rooms. Jesse's room was left untouched and unoccupied. Vince figured it would stay that way.

He was glad to be home...sort of. While in the hospital, he told himself everything would be better once he got home...but it wasn't. It was the same. He felt depressed and just wasn't the same Vince anymore. Little things scared the shit out of him, not that he'd ever admit it, and he barely slept in fear of nightmares.

Most of all, he resented his best friends; his family. They'd left him all alone in LA while they ran off to Mexico. If they were really his family, someone would've stuck around; Mia at least. But no, Mia was too eaten up about Brian and didn't want to stick around. The 'team' ran off to get away from the cops, leaving Vince to take all the heat. He'd be in prison right now if Brian hadn't pulled a lot of stings to get all of their names cleared. Only then did the 'team' come back.

They came back after a little over two weeks saying how much they'd worried about him and how much they cared about it. Yea, right, cared; whatever. They hadn't come to the hospital a whole lot, since Vince hadn't really felt like talking to them much, which just made him resent them more. He couldn't help that he didn't really feel upbeat after a near-death experience, could he?

"Vince, you awake bro?" Leon asked quietly, nudging the door open.

"Yea"

"Aiight, Mia's done with breakfast"

"Coming"

Leon nodded and left while Vince sat up and stretched before heading up stairs. Yep, no Jesse. Even after the time that had passed, he expected to see Jesse sitting there.

"Morning Vince," Mia said cheerily.

Vince just grunted. He wasn't usually receptive of Mia's cheery manner anymore, especially this early in the morning.

"Somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Letty asked grumpily.

"Fuck off, Let," he mumbled back.

He didn't really take her crap anymore. She didn't like it when other people were in a bad mood but seemed to be in one herself a lot. He used to brush it off, but now that bothered him too. A lot of things about his 'family' bugged him now.

Letty merely raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing, which Vince thought was very smart of her. Last time she'd tried arguing with him he'd blown up at her, and he honestly didn't feel sorry for it.

"Vince, you need more sleep, dawg? Did I wake you up?" Leon asked, always trying to be the peacemaker.

"Yes, but no," Vince grumbled, going back downstairs, hoping his next attempt at getting up would go over better.

He flopped onto his bed and tried to remember the last time he'd been truly happy.

He couldn't remember. It was definitely before the buster showed up, but it must've been a long time before that because he couldn't really recall.

As of late, he'd been extremely irritable. Everything rubbed him the wrong way when he was around the team and sometimes when he sat with them he felt he was being suffocated by emotions. He couldn't take it.

"Yo, V..."

There was a knock on the door and the voice belonged to Dom.

"Ugh, go away"

The door opened despite his request and Dom walked in, taking a seat in Vince's black Papasan chair. He just sat and stared at Vince.

Vince stared back but then broke eye contact and stared back up at the ceiling again. He resented his best friend, and he hated it. It wasn't like he wanted to be mad at him, or the others for that matter, but he just was. He'd been taken for granted, he'd realized, and he hated that. He was like that family dog that was loyal to you no matter what. No matter what you'd done or how badly you might've treated it in the past, it stuck by you. Fuck that; he deserved better.

"What's the problem here, Vince?" Dom finally said.

"No problem," Vince lied pointlessly. It was only obvious that there was one.

"When did we get to the point that we needed to lie to each other?" Dom asked, sitting back and sounded exasperated.

Vince just shrugged. That was a good question.

"Vince, talk to me, bro"

Vince remained silent. What was he supposed to say? He wished he knew, but he didn't.

Dom sighed and sat forward again.

"What do you think of a change of scenery?"

Vince sat up quickly. Was Dom kicking him out? He couldn't do that.

"What!"

"Whoa, calm down... I'm just asking what you thought of us all leaving LA for a while"

"Leaving LA?"

"Yea, I think it might do us all some good"

"Well...where would we go?"

"I was thinking a nice, long trip to New York to stay with Lucan, my cousin"

"New York..." Vince thought about it and that really didn't sound like a bad idea to him. Maybe a change of scenery would be a good idea. "...yea...yea, that'd be cool."

"Alright, I just wanted to run it by you. I'll go talk to everybody else"

Dom got up after a moment's hesitation and left the room. Vince laid back and smiled. New York...he'd never been there. He'd heard it was pretty cool though and had always wanted to go. Deciding he wanted to know what the others thought, he went back upstairs just as Dom was telling everyone his idea.

"Why?" Letty asked, sounding surprised.

"I think we need a change," Dom explained. "All of us"

Leon seemed to think it over and then nodded.

"I'm in, dawg, when are we leavin'?"

"As soon as we can get the garage locked up and I'll have to call Lucan. Girls, you in?"

"I am," Mia said readily. She liked New York and she missed Lucan; they hadn't visited in a few years now. "Let?"

"Sure, I'm out-voted even if I didn't want to"

"Great, I'll call Luke this afternoon"

That seemed to settle things and everyone kept eating. Mia quietly handed Vince a plate of pancakes and he dug in with a passion.

Vince just lounged around after breakfast, not in the mood to really do anything. He played Leon in a few games of _Need For Speed Underground_, and watched some TV. Late in the afternoon Dom came in and told them they'd fly out to New York in a few days. Lucan was more than happy to have them and would be expecting them soon.

Personally, Vince was thrilled about their little trip, though he wasn't really showing it. Maybe getting out of the house for a while, and away from all the memories, he'd find himself again.

"Yo, V, you ever been to New York?" Leon asked, taking a sip of beer.

"Nah; you?"

"Nope...should be fun though, yea?"

"Hope so"

Leon nodded his agreement and they ordered out pizza about an hour later.

Vince went downstairs halfway through the movie they were watching, '_The Score'_, and sat on his bed for a few moments before spotting his acoustic guitar. His electric one had gotten broken at a party a few weeks before everything had gone down and he hadn't taken it to get fixed yet.

He took it out of its case and made sure it was tuned right before playing. It wasn't any real songs, just chords that sounded good together, and he let his fingers take control; making melody after melody. He'd been playing ever since he was little and had a real passion for it; playing just relaxed him like nothing else.

He played until there was a knock at the door about an hour or two later.

"Yea?"

The door slowly opened and Leon was standing in the doorway.

"Hey, I'm getting to bed. Dom says we gotta get up early tomorrow to finish those couple cars in the garage; then we can leave sooner. Just thought you'd want to know so you didn't stay up too late"

"Aiight, thanks. I guess I'll hit the sack soon too"

Leon nodded and left Vince's door open before going to his own room, also leaving his door open. Vince grinned to himself. He never said it, but Leon liked hearing him play. He'd asked Vince to teach him before but quickly found he didn't have the patience for it, so he just liked to listen.

Vince played for a little while longer before putting it back in its case and changing for bed.

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**Well, there it was. It wasn't very long, but it's only the beginning. Once i get a few reviews I'll update again, so R and R to tell me what you think. See that little button down there? just click it.**

**For anyone reading this that has read This Is A Call, i think i'm gonna continue that...so look for it. Ok, adios; don't forget to review!**


	2. Nicole

**Hey, here's chapter 2. Thanks for the review and i'm glad u like it. This chapter is longer than the 1st so hopefully u like this one too...please R and R. **

**Enjoy**

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NICOLE

The next few days were sort of a blur. They all worked hard at the garage the next two days to finish up the cars and then closed up, unsure of when they'd come back. They let Hector know they wouldn't be coming to races for a while and stored their cars away in the garage, since they wouldn't need them for a while.

The day before they left was pretty quiet around the house since everyone was packing. Vince had a large duffle bag packed up, plus a small carry-on, and his guitar; no way was he going to leave that behind.

Everyone hit the sack early that night since they had a 10:30 flight in the morning.

* * *

Surprisingly, they got to the airport on time, with little arguing. They got seated on the plane and took off right on time. 

The flight was about 4 hours long and was far from interesting. They showed a movie but it was no interest to Vince so he slept most of the way, waking up only for the soda and peanuts being passed around by the nice stewardess.

When they got off the plane, Dom and Mia's cousin, Lucan (Luke for short), was waiting for them.

"Hey, Luke"

"Sup, Dom"

They embraced in a manly hug before Luke gave Mia a big bear hug. He was an inch or two shorter than Dom and only a little less built, so he able to lift her right off her feet and swing her around.

"How's my favorite little cousin?"

"I'm ok, how bout yourself?"

"Not bad, girly, not bad"

He shook hands with everyone else, since he didn't know them as well.

"Lets go grab your luggage"

He turned, throwing his arm over Mia's shoulders, and led them to collect their bags.

"Aw, sweet...you play, bro?" Luke asked, seeing Vince with his guitar case.

"Yea"

"Awesome...I got a friend waiting in the parking lot cuz we won't fit all in one car... you guys have everything?"

They did so they went to the parking lot and loaded their things into Luke's car and his friend's Escalade.

Dom and the girls went with Lucan and Leon and Vince went with his friend, Sean.

Lucan's house was a nice-sized, two story house on a street with other houses that looked almost exactly the same. They followed Lucan in, leaving their bags for a minute, and stood around in the living room.

"Aiight, I forgot to tell you on the phone, I'm one room short. A friend is in from Chicago and needs a place to stay for a while and I promised him the room already..." Lucan explained. "No worries though, I got it under control. I got a friend who has an apartment like... 10 minutes from here. It's more in the city, but it's a nice place and Cole's awesome."

"Ok," Dom said, nodding and looking around. He wasn't sure who'd take it. It wouldn't be him, though, since he'd be with Letty.

"I'll take the room," Vince offered, taking advantage of the excuse to be away from the team a little more. Maybe that was something he needed; he thought so.

"Aiight, she should be here in a few minutes"

"She?"

"Oh, yea...Cole is short for Nicole"

"Oh, does she want a girl staying with her? Cuz I can stay with her," Mia offered.

"Nah, she doesn't care," Luke assured her. "Besides, I want you here with me so I can pick on you"

"Yea, and I don't know if I'd want you in the city living with just a girl," Dom put in.

"Nah, Dom, it's fine. She don't live in a bad part of town or anything, it's a nice place"

"Whatever"

Luke was passing out beers when the door opened and a girl walked in.

"Hey, sup Cole?" Luke greeted with a big smile.

"Hey Luke"

"Let me introduce you first to my favorite cousin: Mia. This is Dom, my other cousin, and his girl Letty. Behind her is Leon and Vince. Vince is gonna stay with you, cool?"

"Alright, but we're eating here, right?"

"Right on, girl"

"Sweet, I'm hungry"

"I bet; I'll order the pizza," he said, grabbing the phone and going to the other room.

"Hi," Mia said cheerfully, taking a seat next to where Nicole had sat herself at the table.

"Hi"

"Just a piece of advice: Vince can be grumpy but just ignore him. He's always been that way," she advised, smiling.

"Hah, ok, I'll keep that in mind"

Vince just rolled his eyes but was grateful that Nicole didn't seem to take it all too seriously. He didn't want her not really liking him before they'd even said two words to each other. Something about the girls just said "fun" and he hoped she was. He didn't really want to live with somebody boring, but he doubted she was. One thing he _did _know what that she was cute, real cute. Luckily he'd spoken up and taken the room before Nicole was there, or Leon would've been all over it.

She was short...probably about 5'4" and had a lean build. Her dark hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun and he figured it would be pretty long if she put it down. Her lightly tan skin covered her soft body and looked seemingly flawless. He wasn't really sure if he 'had a type,' but if he did he was pretty sure she'd be it. She seemed to have a quiet confidence that he found very appealing.

"Pizza will be here in 25 minutes," Luke announced, putting the phone back on the receiver.

"So, Vince... you don't snore really loud or anything, do you?" Nicole asked after a few moments of silence.

"Nah, not that I know of"

"No, he doesn't," Leon assured her.

"Sweet... you smoke?"

"No"

"Good... allergic to cats?"

"Nope"

"Good...this'll work great then"

The pizza came a while later and they sat around the Dinning Room table to eat, chatting away about this and that. Once they were done eating Nicole stretched and checked her watch.

"Well, Vince, wanna get going? Get you settled in and all that?"

"Sure, let's go"

She nodded and clapped Sean's on the back.

"Wanna give us a ride, cuz?"

"Sure... the others gotta get their stuff outta the Escalade though"

Chairs scraped against the floor as everyone got up to get their things and bring them back into the house.

Once the only thing left in Sean's car was Vince's things, the three of them left. The ride was quiet and they were soon pulled up in front of a nice looking apartment building.

"Need help with the stuff?" Sean asked

"Nah, we can get it between the two of us. Thanks, cuz, see you later"

Sean nodded and Nicole went around to the back to help Vince.

"What do you want me to carry?"

Vince handed her his backpack and grabbed his duffle and guitar himself. Nicole shut Sean's car and stepped onto the sidewalk as he sped off.

"You sure this is all? I'm stronger than I probably look."

"Nah, I got it"

"Ok," she shrugged, leading the way into the building and up to her room.

She unlocked the door and pushed it open for the both of them.

"I'll get you a key tomorrow; sorry I forgot to do it earlier"

"Not a problem," Vince assured her.

Nicole turned on some lights after shutting the door and Vince took a look around. It was a nice place.

They were standing in the living room, which was really pretty big. Some doors led out of the room and the one farthest to the left, which was the widest and had no door, led into the kitchen. The next two to the right had their doors closed so he had no idea what they were and the last doorway had door beads hanging down, arranged in a way that showed a green, black, blue and yellow zigzagging pattern. He assumed that would be Nicole's room. Against the far left wall there was a set of stairs that led up to a loft-type thing.

That was about it. From what he could see the apartment was painted in mostly earth colors, which, for some reason, seemed to fit Nicole very well.

"Ok, here's your room," Nicole said, opening the door to the very right of the kitchen. "The next door is the bathroom and the last one is mine"

"Aiight"

Vince dropped his things into his room and looked around quickly. It was nicer than he'd expected, as was the whole apartment. A twin bed was up against the right wall and a small dresser was across from it. There was a small, empty closet, bedside table and small set of shelves. It was great. Once he had his things moved in, it would be even better.

He turned the light off after looking around and walked out to find Nicole on the couch, sitting cross-legged with the remote in one hand. He took a seat on the other end of the couch and they quietly watched TV. The couch was just as comfortable as it had looked and he relaxed, almost dozing off. He hadn't been sitting there long when a small, gray tabby-cat hopped up into his lap and started making itself comfortable.

"Oh, that's Tiger. Go ahead and push him away if he bugs you and he'll take a hint"

"Nah, I don't care"

The small kitten curled up on his lap and fell asleep within minutes. A few hours later, when he and Nicole were getting up to go to bed, he almost felt bad to have to move that cat. He carefully shifted it to the side before getting up and wondered if he was going soft. He was pretty sure there was a time when he would've just pushed it off without thinking about it.

"Good night Vince"

"Night Nicole"

She disappeared into her room and Vince slipped into his, stripping down to his boxers and pulling on some sweat pants before climbing into the very comfortable bed.

Much to his surprise, nightmares didn't wake him up. He did, however, wake up with the need to pee. As he was leaving the bathroom he heard something and froze. Noticing the sound was coming from Nicole's room he walked to her doorway and listened. Her covers ruffled every now and then and he could hear her mumbling something and he could've swore it sounded like she was crying.

He quietly pushed aside some of the hanging beads that served as her door and peered in. He couldn't see much since the only light in her room was dim from the street lamps out on the street. It was obvious, though, that she was having a nightmare. He felt for her, since he'd had numerous nightmares with no one to comfort him, so he slipped in and clicked on the lamp on the little table by her bed. Sure enough, her cheeks looked damp as she continued to toss and turn.

"Nicole... hey, Cole, wake up..." he spoke quietly, not wanting to scare the shit out of her, and shook her lightly. "Nicole..."

She suddenly jerked awake and sat up.

"What?"

She looked around and spotted Vince after a moment.

"Nightmare?" he asked, even though it was obvious.

She nodded and, after a silent and awkward moment, Vince found her arms around him and he automatically hugged her back. She was shaking and he pulled her protectively into his lap, rubbing her back and whispering to her just because it felt right.

After a little while, she relaxed and felt like she was sleeping. He dared to move back and look at her and, sure enough, she'd fallen asleep in his lap. He stood up a little, just enough to pull back the covers, and carefully laid her down before putting the covers back over her. A large part of him wanted to stay there with her, to make sure she'd be ok, but he wasn't sure how she'd react to that. Sure, she'd wanted his comfort in the middle of the night when she was still scared but who knew how she'd feel in the morning.

He watched her for a moment and sighed before going back to his room to lay all alone until sleep claimed him.

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**alright, there. Hope it was ok...let me now my reviewing. Just use that little button at the bottom. R and R, please and thank you.**


	3. Who's that?

**hey, sorry it's been so long. I've had this written for a while and i just keep forgetting to post it. My bad. Anyway...i was gonna make this one _really_ long chapter but i decided to split it into 2 and have a little cliff hanger...hah! the nextchap should be up in a day (maybe 2) and things will start getting a lot more interesting...**

**Enjoy and, as always, R and R**

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WHO'S THAT?

Surprisingly, Vince woke up relatively early in the morning. He laid in bed for a few minutes before hauling himself up and trudging to the door. He could hear Nicole moving around in the bathroom, so he went to the kitchen and immediately noticed that she'd already made coffee. He happily helped himself to a cup of it and sat at the table.

"Morning"

He lowered his mug to see Nicole walking in, making a beeline for the coffeepot. She still had her basketball shorts and t-shirt on that she'd slept in, and her hair was a little messy from sleeping. Contrary to what most girls seemed to think, Vince thought women looked cute when they'd just woken up – not that he told people that.

"Morning," he mumbled back.

Once she poured herself some coffee, she sat in the chair next to him. She shifted awkwardly a few times and finally seemed to get comfortable after she pulled her legs up so that they were up to her chest.

"Um...thanks for last night...and sorry if I woke up you..." she finally said after a few minutes.

"Nah, you didn't...and it wasn't a problem...I know how it goes"

Nicole nodded and gave him a small smile before getting back up and making them both some toast.

After breakfast they both changed and left their building to go to a place where they could get a set of keys to the apartment for Vince. That didn't take long and, once it was done, they just walked around the city for a while. She showed him some places that he might want to know, like nice diners, restaurants, bars, shops, and little things like that. Vince tried to remember what she was telling him, but he doubted he'd be able to find half of the places ever again. There were tons of buildings and a lot of them looked alike, so he decided he'd have to go places with Nicole until he got used to it all.

They ate lunch at a little café and weren't sure what to do afterwards.

"Wanna go to Luke's and see what everyone else is up to?" Nicole asked after they'd walked a couple blocks aimlessly.

Vince thought about it. He'd honestly been enjoying the day without the team, and _with_ Nicole, but knew he couldn't avoid them. If he tried, they'd get offended and worried and he didn't want to have deal with that.

"Sure"

"Ok"

Nicole hailed a cab rather quickly and they were at Lucan's about 15 minutes later.

Luke's car was in the driveway so they just walked in, not bothering to knock.

"Hello?"

Luke came around the corner and smiled when he saw them.

"We were just talking about you two," he stated. "Come on downstairs, we got the PS2 out."

They followed him downstairs and found the team sprawled out on the couches while Jesse and Leon raced on the video game.

"Is this what you've been doing all day?" Nicole asked, shaking her head.

"Pretty much, yea," Luke answered, flopping onto the couch.

"Well I'm real glad we came," she said sarcastically.

"Yea, the girls are getting bored too...why don't you take them out?"

"Gee, I'm at your service"

"Shut up"

"I'm not bored," Letty said, looking at Luke like he was crazy to think she wouldn't like it.

"I am...wanna get out of here Nicole?" Mia asked, looking hopeful.

"If we can take Luke's car"

Mia made her sad face, which Luke couldn't resist, and he forked over his keys.

After saying their good-byes, Nicole and Mia left and drove around to find something to do. They ended up shopping. The didn't buy anything, but they had fun looking around. They didn't want to pay for dinner, so they headed back to Luke's in time for dinner.

They found the guys still in the basement but they were watching a movie, so the girls joined them. After they ate, Vince and Nicole called a cab and went back to the apartment. Vince was quiet during the whole ride and just nodded when Nicole asked if he'd had a good time hanging out with the guys.

It was still kind of early when they got to their room but Vince went straight to his room, leaving Nicole with only Tiger for company. She watched TV for a while before going to bed herself, wondering what was up with Vince.

* * *

In the morning, Vince acted normal like nothing had happened. He felt bad for being short with Nicole, but he really hadn't enjoyed the pervious afternoon. It just hadn't been the same as when he'd been hanging out with Nicole. She hadn't known him before so he could be however he wanted to be around her. Once he got back with the team he felt like he was stuck being how they expected him to be. He hadn't liked it and had just clammed up, not saying or doing much, the whole time wishing that he was still walking around with Nicole. She was calming and he felt better around her.

"What do you wanna do today?" Nicole asked after they ate breakfast. "I don't have to work 'til 5:00, so I'm up for whatever"

"I dunno...where do you work?"

"I'm a waitress at a restaurant called _Olivia's_"

"Oh...a fancy place?"

"Um...yea, it's nice...good tips"

Vince nodded and the rest of the morning went quietly while they got dressed and everything. They ended up at Times Square in the early afternoon, wandering around and talking about a little bit of everything.

Vince stopped to look up at one of the many huge buildings with advertisements on the side. He couldn't help but want to check everything out, even though that was nearly impossible. He turned to keep going and found that Nicole was gone. Before he could panic too much, though, she popped back up in front of him.

"Come on; what're you doin?"

"Nothin'"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling him along with her.

"Well come on then, we need to get back soon so I can get ready for work"

Vince didn't say anything, but let himself be led away to a less congested place so they could get a cab. On the way he let himself calm down. He didn't know what he would've done if Nicole and walked further without him and not found him again. Not having been there long enough to know his way around, he would've been screwed – simply put.

It was when she let go to get into the cab that Vince realized they'd been holding hands. He wasn't really the kind of guy who held hands with girls, but he found he kind of liked it. Her small hand had fit perfectly in his larger one, and he kind of missed it.

He was left alone the rest of the evening once they got home. Nicole had changed into black pants and a white shirt before hurrying out to her job. He hadn't even asked where it was at, but reminded himself to sometime. Maybe he'd go sometime when she was working to see what it was like, as long as it wasn't _too_ fancy. He hadn't brought 'nice' clothes with him and wasn't really into fancy restaurants anyway.

Just when he was getting sick of sitting with only the cat for company, the phone rang. He debated it for a minute, but picked it up. After all, he lived there too now.

"Hello?"

_'Vince?'_

"Yea...who's this?"

'_Lucan...where's Cole?'_

"At work"

'_Oh yea! I forgot...one sec'_

Luke gave the phone to Dom and he told Vince their plans. Luke had a friend who owned a garage and they'd all be able to get part time jobs there. It wouldn't be everyday, since there were so many of them, but they'd figure something out. They had to go to the garage the next day to sort out the details.

_'That cool with you, V?'_

"Yea," Vince answered, knowing he needed a job, even if he didn't really want to be around Dom.

_'Aiight, see you tomorrow then. We'll come pick you up around 11:00'_

"K, later"

:click:

Vince hung up the phone and sighed. As much as he wanted too keep hanging out with Nicole, he knew he needed a job if they were staying there for a while. Besides, she had a job, too, and probably worked during the day sometimes.

He was left alone again until Nicole got back at 11:00.

"Hey Vince"

"Hey"

"Whattcha been doing while I was gone?"

"Just watching TV"

"Ooo, bet that's fun"

"No, not really"

She just chuckled and went into her room for a few minutes, coming back out in sweat pants and a t-shirt. She flopped down on the other end of the couch and crossed her legs beneath her.

"Not tired form work?"

"Nope, wide awake. Did anyone call?"

"Oh yea; Lucan and Dom. They're gonna pick me up at 11:00 tomorrow and we're going down to where we're gonna work."

"Oh, the garage?"

"Yep, that's it"

"Sweet...like cars then?"

"Love 'em. We used to race back in LA"

"Shouldda brought your cars then; there's street racing here," Nicole informed him.

"Yea, but we needed a change; that's why we came"

"A change to legal things?" she asked in a joking way but frowned at the look on Vince's face. "Sorry if that was out of line; I was just kidding."

"Nah...you're right. We got in some deep shit...just needed to leave for a while..." Vince answered, waving away her apology.

Nicole nodded but didn't say anything else, feeling awkward for what she'd said.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Vince assured her.

"Yea...mind if I ask what you did? Besides racing, I mean," she asked after a moment, sounding rather hesitant but curious.

Vince sighed. "That's a long story...I'll tell you about it later"

"Alright, it really wasn't my place to ask"

Vince shrugged and looked around.

"Mind if I ask _you_ something?"

"Shoot"

"Alirght...what's up in the loft?" he asked, pointing to the stairs.

"Oh yea! I forgot to tell you, huh? That's like my 'studio' of sorts..." she stood and opened her arms, sighing dramatically. "I...am an artist." She lowered her hands and grinned. "Come on, I'll show you."

Vince, his curiosity peeked, followed her up the stairs and into an open, rather spacious, room. Some pictures hung on the wall and there was an armchair in the corner, and two other comfortable looking chairs were situated in other places. A tall stool stood in front of an even taller easel with a large pad of paper on it. Smaller sketchpads were here and there around the room, along with pens and pencils.

Vince looked at the pictures on the wall and was surprised at how good they were. There were some cityscapes and some of people, and they were all good, to him.

"I ain't no artist, but these are pretty damn good"

"Thanks; I went to an art college and wanted to make a career or it, but it's really more of a hobby. Maybe I could make some money...I dunno..." Nicole shrugged and flopped into the armchair.

They stayed up in her 'studio' for a few hours before going down the their respective rooms for sleep.

* * *

When the next morning came, Vince was far from happy. He was looking at an afternoon spent with the team and he'd be lying if he said he was looking forward to it. He was quiet during breakfast and mumbled a good-bye over his shoulder when Lucan called and said they'd be there in 5 minutes.

Just as he'd figured, the day wasn't fun. The only good thing about it was that he'd be working with Leon. The garage didn't need four people, so they were going in pairs on different afternoons. Him and Leon got Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while Dom and Letty worked Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Mia didn't work with cars, so Lucan was still looking into getting her a job. He was hoping she could get a job with Nicole, but he hadn't checked on it yet.

Vince was trudging to the door of the apartment around 6:30, wanting nothing more than a nice, cold beer. When he got inside, he heard voices in the kitchen and shrugged off his jacket, laying it over the back of the couch.

"Hey Vince, come in here, I got somebody I want you to meet," Nicole called to him.

"Comin'"

He walked through the doorway and into the kitchen to see what was up. He looked to the table and almost dropped his keys when he saw the guy sitting at the table with Nicole.

* * *

**hah...i'll just leave u with that for now. Like i said, the next chap should be up in a day or two and you'll see who it is...(hint/fyi: he's not from the movie...not bringing in any other characters...yet?...)**

**anyway, see that review button down there? click it and tell me what you think...thanks**


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